Event #13: $3,000 Main Event Day 1c | 2022 The Lodge Championship Series

05-20-2022 19:30 UTC-5

Charles Alex-Barton Dubbed the Top Stack in Day 1c of $2M GTD Main Event

MartianNews

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

The third flight of Event 13: $3,000 NLH $2 Million Guaranteed Main Event has now come to a halt after nine levels of play here at The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas. There were a total of 121 runners on Day 1c and when the night ended, only 48 were left with chips to bag up for Day 2.

When the last chance saloon had closed for business it was Charles Alex-Barton sitting in the driver's seat of this flight. Alex-Barton stayed under the radar for the better part of the day and it wasn't until the last two levels that he started to catch wind under his sails. The Boston, MA, native compiled a stack of 357,000 which secured him the top seed from this flight, but Raymond Brint of Day 1a is still leading overall.

Closest behind Alex-Barton from Day 1c is the well-known and always scary to play against Andrew Moreno who shot out of the gate early on. Moreno took his early stack and seemed to have little hurdles en route to bagging 317,000. Rounding out the top five are Miguel Capriles (295,000), Salim Khoury (294,000), and the heavy-hitting Nick Pupillo who stacked up nicely, finishing with a healthy-sized 286,000 stack.

Top Five Counts of Day 1c

RANK	PLAYER	HOMETOWN	CHIP COUNT	BIG BLINDS
1	Charles Alex-Barton	Boston, MA	357,000	178
2	Andrew Moreno	Las Vegas, NV	317,500	159
3	Miguel Capriles	Miami, FL	295,000	148
4	Salim Khoury	Houston, TX	294,000	147
5	Nick Pupillo	Gilbert, AZ	286,000	143

The star-studded field saw many household names advance from this flight, including the likes of Jacob Ferro (172,000), DJ Alexander (110,000), Will Berry (106,000), Eric Afriat (105,000), and Kristen Foxen (78,500). None bagged monster stacks and might take another shot at bagging more during the last three flights of the main event.

A total of 96 players have advanced from the first three flights and they will combine with all who advance from the next three flights on Sunday, May 22, at 2 p.m. for the second day of this event. Blinds will begin at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante and the levels will increase to 60-minutes in length. A total of ten levels will be played on the second day and all who remain will bag up for Day 3.

Half the flights have now been tagged and bagged here in the $2 Million Guaranteed Main Event. Tune in for the fourth flight now as the PokerNews live reporting team brings all the updates.

Tags: Andrew Moreno Charles Alex-Barton DJ Alexander Eric Afriat Jacob Ferro Kristen Foxen Miguel Capriles Nick Pupillo Raymond Brint Salim Khoury Will Berry

05-20-2022 18:55 UTC-5

Golden Nugget to Host $1,100 Buy-In, $1,000,000 GTD PokerNews Cup June 24-28

MartianNews

Level 9 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

This summer, Golden Nugget Las Vegas will play host to the 14th Annual Grand Poker Series, which features 81 events and offers over $3 million in guaranteed prize money from May 31-July 3. One of those events is the $1,100 buy-in, $1,000,000 Guaranteed PokerNews Cup that will run from June 24-28.

The tournament will feature three starting flights beginning with Day 1a at 11 a.m. PT on Friday, June 24. Days 1b and 1c will take place at the same time on Saturday, June 25, and Sunday, June 26 respectively. The surviving players from each flight will return at Noon on Monday, June 27 to play down to the final table, which will play out at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28. PokerNews will be on-site throughout the duration to offer live updates, videos, social media content, and more.

“We’re very excited to partner with our friends at Golden Nugget this summer to offer the PokerNews Cup in Las Vegas for the first time,” said Head of PokerNews Mark Powell-Bevan. “Not only will players have the opportunity at a seven-figure prize pool for an affordable buy-in, but they’ll also get to experience everything PokerNews has to offer including live updates, giveaways, videos, a live podcast, and more. It’s going to be one of the premier tournaments of the summer.”

“We’re especially excited about taking our partnership with PokerNews to the next level,” said Andy Rich, Golden Nugget Las Vegas Director of Poker Operations. “This is huge news for poker players, and we couldn’t be happier that all the action is right here at Golden Nugget during Grand Poker Series.”

For those looking to get into the PokerNews Cup event cheaper, there will be a $200 buy-in Mega Satellite guaranteeing 10 seats at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 23.

History of the PokerNews Cup

The first-ever PokerNews Cup took place in 2007 at Australia’s Crown Casino and saw Dory Zayner become the inaugural champion. The following year, Nali Kaselias won the same event while Darren Kramer claimed the title in the 2008 PokerNews Cup South African Poker Open. In 2009, it was Con Tsapkounis winning the third edition of PokerNews Cup Australia while Marc Naalden was victorious in the PokerNews Cup Alpine (Austria).

05-20-2022 16:10 UTC-5

Chips are Flying on Table 29

MartianNews

Level 6 : 400/800, 800 ante

The action picked up on a flop with the action checked to Eric Afriat who bet 3,300. Two folds made it Jacob Ferro's action, he elected to call and see the turn.

A quick tap by Ferro was met with a quick bet of 8,500 and Ferro instantly check-raised for a total of 20,400. Afriet took a moment but, he called and the fell.

Ferro threw in 25,000 after the third club hit the board. Afriet took several minutes before he declined and slowly pushed his hand into the muck.

The field now has a new leader heading into the break.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jacob Ferro	244,000 183,500	183,500
Eric Afriat	66,500 33,000	33,000

Tags: Eric Afriat Jacob Ferro

05-20-2022 15:20 UTC-5

Alvarado Receives Early Birthday Present

MartianNews

Level 5 : 300/600, 600 ante

Ricardo Alvarado opened to 1,400 in middle position, and Peter Kaemmerlen, Frank Sill, and Max Hovenden all called. Brian Lamkin looked down at his hand from the big blind and elected to three-bet, making it 5,700.

Alvarado decided a four-bet was in order, putting in 13,500. The action folded to Lamkin who called to see the flop where he led out with an 11,000 bet.

The bet turned into a raise when Alvarado doubled it to 22,000. Lamkin called and the peeled off on the turn. Lamkin tapped his turn and a quick shove came from Alvarado.

Lamkin hit the time-bank button for over five minutes before coming to a decision. He called his 19,000 stack into the pot and held in his hand.

The hand was over when Alvarado tabled for a three cowboys. An insignificant completed the board and Lamkin stormed off, leaving all of his chips for Alvarado to stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ricardo Alvarado	128,000 63,000	63,000

Peter Kaemmerlen	105,000 21,000	21,000
Frank Sill	82,000 -18,000	-18,000
Max Hovenden	45,000 -5,000	-5,000
Brian Lamkin	Busted

Tags: Brian Lamkin Frank Sill Max Hovenden Peter Kaemmerlen Ricardo Alvarado

05-20-2022 14:21 UTC-5

Lodge Championship Series Results So Far

MartianNews

Level 5 : 300/600, 600 ante

The Lodge Championship Series is underway here at The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas. This series runs from May 4-24, having over $5 million in guarantees, including a $2 million guaranteed main event that begins today, May 19.

Here is a look at some of the events that have been completed thus far, along with prize pools and winners.

Date	Tournament	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	Hometown	Prize
May 4	Event #1 - NLH $300 Seniors	172	$43,000	John Skrovan	Granger, TX	$9,557
May 4	Event #2 – PLO $500	119	$50,575	Pejman Niyati	Plano, TX	$15,173
May 4	Event #3 - NLH $1,000 Six Max	125	$110,000	Badr Imejjane	Frisco, TX	$24,673*
May 5	Event #4 - NLH $400 Multi-Flight	1,556	$526,640	Rudy Cadenas	Las Vegas, NV	$54,231*
May 8	Event #5 – NLH $600 Mystery Bounty	528	$300,000	Mohammad Bagheri	Dallas, TX	$40,024
May 10	Event #6 – NLH $500 Tag Team	34	$20,000	Matthew Sottek & Walter Glasier	Texas	$4,837
May 10	Event #7 – NLH $300 Veterans Charity Event	47	$15,000	Roger Pettit	Killeen, TX	$2,507*
May 11	Event #8 - NLH $1600 Mystery Bounty	659	$1,000,000	Zachary Hambrice	San Antonio, TX	$96,408*
May 15	Event #9 - NLH $800	1,116	$756,480	Alexis Meyer	Monterrey, MX	$113,367*
May 18	Event #10 - NLH $5,000 High Roller	82	$120,704	Michael Perrone	Chicago, IL	$120,704
May 18	Event #11 - BIG O $500	140	$59,500	Diego Diaz	Leander, TX	$12,140
May 18	Event #12 - NLH Freezeout $300	215	$53,750	Justin Belforti	Medway, MA	$13,343

05-20-2022 14:02 UTC-5

Action Heating Up After the Break

MartianNews

Level 4 : 200/400, 400 ante

The flop was and action checked to Eric Afriat who bet 3,500. Wojciech Barzantny and Casey Brown both check-called, creating a healthy-sized pot.

The dealer burned and turned over an . Afriat saw each of his opponent's tap the table and bet once more, putting 8,500 into the pot.

Barzantny and Brown both called the amount, jacking up the pot for what might be an action river. A completed the board and little action ensued, having all three check through.

Barzantny opened his hand and revealed which ended up as the winner after his adversaries mucked their hands.

Player	Chips	Progress
Casey Brown	132,000 132,000	132,000
Wojciech Barzantny	67,500 17,500	17,500
Eric Afriat	33,500 -16,500	-16,500

Tags: Casey Brown Eric Afriat Wojciech Barzantny

05-20-2022 13:45 UTC-5

Day 1c Gains Some Familiar Faces

MartianNews

Level 4 : 200/400, 400 ante

The first break of the day is over in what is the biggest field thus far. Day 1c now has 86 entries with another three hours left in late registration, and some big names have just jumped into the flight.

One big name, in particular, is Canada's Eric Afriat who took home $100,000 just two nights ago in Event 9 after a heads-up deal. He is not the only canuck from that final table to take a seat as Kristen Foxen, who finished 5th for $34,834, is now in the field as well.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nick Pupillo	50,000 50,000	50,000

Frank Stepuchin	50,000 50,000	50,000

Stephen Song	50,000 50,000	50,000

Andrew Robinson	50,000 50,000	50,000
Upeshka De Silva	50,000 50,000	50,000

Eric Afriat	50,000 50,000	50,000

Will Berry	50,000 50,000	50,000
Kristen Foxen	50,000 50,000	50,000

Jacob Ferro	50,000

Tags: Eric Afriat Kristen Foxen

05-20-2022 12:50 UTC-5

Rodriguez Slows Down the Beat

MartianNews

Level 3 : 200/300, 300 ante

On the hand before the blinds increased, a 700 raise by Frank Sill was called by Carlos Rodrigues on his left and Ricardo Alvarado on the big blind. A flop landed on the felt and Sill continued for 1,000.

Rodrigues bumped it up to 2,500, Alvarado folded and Sill quickly put in enough chips for a call. The dealer burned and turned a . Sill tapped this time to Rodriguez who fired in another 2,500.

A check-call from Sill brought the river and Sill checked his option one more. Rodriguez smiled, put his arm out, and began to check the pulse of his opponent.

He checked behind, tabling for two pair and Sill mucked face-up, shipping the pot to Rodriguez.

"His pulse was like a baby, I had to check," said a laughing Rodriguez while stacking his chips.

Player	Chips	Progress
Frank Sill	79,000 29,000	29,000
Carlos Rodriguez	43,000 -7,000	-7,000

Tags: Carlos Rodrigues Frank Sill Ricardo Alvarado

05-20-2022 12:21 UTC-5

Moreno Already Stacking Piles

MartianNews

Level 2 : 100/200, 200 ante

The most accomplished player to start Day 1c is also sitting on top of the field early.

Andrew Moreno has just under $3 million in career earnings and is off to a hot start thus far, having 121,000 after just one level.

It might be early but it most certainly wouldn't be a shock if he finishes on top of the field as well when it is time to bag up.

Player	Chips	Progress
Andrew Moreno	121,000 71,000	71,000

Tags: Andrew Moreno

05-20-2022 12:07 UTC-5

Bin Weng Takes a Seat After Late Night

MartianNews

Level 2 : 100/200, 200 ante

Bin Weng is the 40th entry in the field and has just taken a seat on Table 27. He looks surprisingly rested after spending 14 hours on the felt yesterday.

Weng's long grind ended around 4 a.m. during the final day of the High Roller just last night when he took an exit in 6th place for a respectable $21,123.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bin Weng	50,000 50,000	50,000

Tags: Bin Weng